BMW’s second generation 7 series, presented in 1986, replaced the E23 after nearly 10 years in production. It was designed by Claus Luthe and internally named E32. As is customary with top end products of any manufacturer, the new model introduced a variety of innovative features, in the case of the E32 those comprised CAN bus, traction control, xenon headlamps, park distance control and double glazing, to name only a few. In a push to outperform the main rival Mercedes-Benz, BMW introduced a V12 engine in the 750i, available as of 1987. Just in case, a V16 was developed and tested in 1988, but management decided against its roll-out. It needs to be said that the E32 was a powerful car regardless of the engine choice. Top speed in the 750i was voluntarily limited to 250 km/h – those wanting to travel even faster were catered for by BMW tuner Alpina, who provided beefed-up variants of the 6- 8- or the 12-cylinder engines. Diesel engines had not yet found their way into a luxury sedan at that time. The E32 series was available with a long wheel-base. A facelift in 1992 brought new engines and 5-speed automatic gearboxes, as well as minor changes to the interior. Production continued until 1994, by which time 311,068 cars had been built.